We'll also hear from Harvard art historian Dr. Jennifer Roberts about the ways art and science share a mission to extend our vision beyond the horizon.

We'll also hear from sociologist DR. TAMARA MOSE about the roots of the tradition that still echo in unfair practices today.

We'll also hear from DR. ANDREA VOYER, a sociologist and historian of social norms at Stockholm University, about her research using etiquette as a lens on changing societies.

Bill Nye photo by Neil Grabowsky / Montclair Film under CC-BY 2.0

We'll also hear from historian of religion DR. CAROLE CUSACK about how this tradition and others like it connect with the deep cycles of the earth and its creatures.

We'll also hear from folklorist DR. JEANA JORGENSEN about the cross-cultural history of messing with each other.

We'll also hear from USC neuroscience researcher MARY HELEN IMMORDINO-YANG about the unexpected ways we achieve this everyday process.

We'll also hear from professor and author RANDI HUTTER EPSTEIN (Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank) about the often strange and disturbing history of the tradition.

We’ll also hear from linguist DR. SONJA LANEHART about how these patterns vary, spread, and change—and how they help define who and what we are.

We’ll also hear from author RACHAEL LENNON about the surprising origins of the custom and how we might coax it away from its problematic features and into the 21st century.

We'll also hear from experimental psychologist DR. ROHAN KAPITANY, a specialist in rituals and supernatural beliefs, about this and other lesser deities who populate the minds of our children—usually because we put them there ourselves.

We’ll also hear from historian JORDAN GIRARDIN about the surprising origins of the custom and the ways we're still not getting it quite right.

We’ll also hear from historian STEPHANIE COONTZ about how changeable and varied this “traditional” custom has actually been over the centuries.

Join Sasha Sagan, author of "For Small Creatures Such as We," as she talks to smart, funny, interesting celebrities and scholars, uncovering just how weirdly wonderful we Earthlings can be.